Wes Streeting has one last roll of the dice against Keir Starmer – it's make or break
Health Secretary holds showdown talks with the Prime Minister in No 10 as speculation mounts about a leadership challenge
Timing is everything in politics. So is gumption, courage and seizing the moment. With Keir Starmer on the ropes and seemingly on his way out, this is the moment for Wes Streeting to strike.
If he really wants to become prime minister, then he must strike now. Failure to do so, and he will forever be seen as a bottler, a politician who didn’t seize his chance. He will be the David Miliband, James Purnell or Roy Jenkins of his generation.
Streeting’s 19-minute coffee morning catch-up with Starmer inside No 10 was his moment. Did the Health Secretary tell his boss he is going to mount a challenge to replace him?
Or did Streeting prove to be a “bottler”, the word Starmer’s supporters were using to describe his would-be political assassin?
Starmer is clinging to power by his fingertips after Labour’s pummelling in the recent elections, while the Lord Mandelson scandal hangs over him like a large black cloud.
This could be Streeting’s only chance to win a Labour leadership contest.
His chief rival, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, is far more popular with Labour supporters and would almost certainly win in a straight fight.
But Burnham has one major problem: he is not currently an MP and so cannot stand if Starmer steps down.
That could change soon, with reports that Burnham hopes to find a Labour MP willing to sacrifice their seat in favour of him.
Wes Streeting arrives at No10 for crunch Starmer talks
But it would be months before Burnham entered the Commons, even assuming he won the necessary by-election, not a guaranteed outcome given Labour’s dismal standing in the polls and Reform UK and the Green Party ready to pounce.
It means that, right now, it is Streeting’s opportunity.
What he needs is the support of 81 Labour MPs, needed to trigger a leadership contest as required by the party’s rules. About 90 have called for Starmer to go in recent days, but some of those are Burnhamites.
But most of all, we come back to courage. Does he have it?
Streeting had a chance to topple Starmer last autumn, but that fizzled out. His supporters will be hoping that there’s still some fizz left in his bottle.
